


The Start of Something New

by scarletladyy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-25
Packaged: 2018-09-08 09:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8839939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletladyy/pseuds/scarletladyy
Summary: Hufflepuffs and Slytherins don't socialise, ever. Even adult ones. So when Draco and Hannah find themselves attracted to one another, it only makes sense to keep their relationship a secret.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for interhouse_fest 2016 with prompt #90 - Draco and Hannah have to keep their relationship a secret, since both their reputations would be ruined if anyone found out.

The early morning sun shone through the windows as Hannah started to open up the Leaky Cauldron. She'd been a barmaid there for three years now, and since Tom was thinking of retiring soon, she was hoping she'd get to be the landlady. She loved the job, but she hated opening up when there was someone on the other side of the door, desperate to come in at such an early hour of the day. Their lives must be lacking something, she thought, for them to want to come to the pub before it's even midday.

“Alright, alright,” Hannah called to try and quieten the heavy knocks. “I'm coming.” She heard a mumble from the other side as she unbolted the door and let in the mysterious man. Only, he wasn't so mysterious at all. It was Draco Malfoy, a man Hannah knew well enough to be shocked to see him here so early on a Saturday morning. “Malfoy? Are you alright?”

Draco didn't look alright at all. He was dishevelled, and seemed to be wearing last nights clothes. His tie was askew, his shirt was untucked and there was dirt on his suit jacket. His hair was something else; she'd never seen it so messy. Usually, Draco never came out in public looking anything but pristine. Hannah had learnt this over his many visits to the Leaky Cauldron in recent months. 

“I need a drink,” Draco declared. “My girlfriend... she's kicked me out.”

Hannah raised an eyebrow as she shut the door behind him. She went round the other side of the bar as Draco perched on a stool, awaiting his usual Firewhiskey. “Why?”

“She thinks I've been cheating on her! With Pansy, of all people!” 

That idea didn't seem as farfetched as Draco would apparently like it to be. Hannah had been suspicious about Draco and Pansy despite his relationship with Astoria. The two seemed awfully close, but both were adamant they were just friends. Hannah, who'd grown rather attached to Draco in the last few months, had to admit she was more jealous of Pansy than she had been of Draco's actual now-ex-girlfriend, Astoria. “You two _are_ good friends.”

“Exactly!” exclaimed Draco. “Good friends. _Just_ good friends. Don't you start an' all.”

“So why, if you're not cheating, has she kicked you out? She must have some evidence or something.” Hannah grabbed a glass from beneath the counter and poured Draco a double shot; he seemed to need it. He took the glass off her as soon as she'd finished, pouring the entire thing down his throat.

“Ugh.” Draco shook his head. “No evidence. Just a misunderstanding. She saw me hugging Pansy, kissing her on the cheek... but we do that all the time! It's completely and utterly platonic. Another.”

“Right.” Hannah poured him one more. Her heart sank at the thought of his close relationship with Pansy. With Astoria out of the picture, maybe they would finally get together. It's well known they were a couple during their teenage years. “What will you do?”

Draco shrugged. “Go back to Malfoy Manor I suppose.”

“And Pansy?”

“What about her?” Draco took a sip from his second Firewhiskey; at least he was drinking this one more slowly. 

“You two gonna get together now?”

A loud laugh emanated from Draco as he nearly spat out his drink. “No, Abbott. We're not. I've actually got my eye on someone else.”

Hannah's heart nearly sunk again, then Draco winked at her and she believed, just for a second, that that someone else might just be her.

*

“You're not going to stay for this, are you, Ern?” Hannah looked across at the woman—who went by the name of Candy, could you believe it—and rolled her eyes as she took in all the men ogling after her.

“Only to protect you.” At Hannah's unconvincing look, Ernie raised his hands in surrender. “Honest, Hannah, who else will look after you against a mob of guys?”

“Harry Potter's over there in the corner,” Hannah remarked. “I'm sure if things got rowdy—”

“Oh yeah.” Ernie turned to look at Harry, who was sat facing away from them, staring into his drink. “Potter to the rescue, again? No, Hannah. Not this time.”

“You're only saying that because _you_ want an excuse to watch the show, too.”

Ernie guffawed and protested this, but Hannah could tell by the way he blushed red that he really was here to watch the show, and was just using her as an excuse. She sighed and fetched him another drink.

“I reckon Potter fancies you, anyhow.”

“What?” Hannah almost stopped what she was doing. Potter, fancy _her_? “Don't be ridiculous. He's a married man.”

Ernie shrugged. “He saved you from that drunken lout last week.”

“He's got a saviour complex,” Hannah reasoned.

“And he's always in here.”

Hannah had to think harder to answer that one. “He's going through a rough time.”

“Yeah?” Ernie smirked in such a way that Hannah wanted to smack it off his face. “Told you all about it, has he? Cried on your shoulder?”

“I _am_ a barmaid, Ernie. It's kind of what we're here for. Cheap therapy.”

The door opened then, and a group of three men, their arms wrapped over each other's shoulders, strolled into the bar.

“Not missed the show, have we?” The one on the right, the one Hannah recognised as Blaise Zabini, called out. Her eyes turned to the other two: Theodore Nott on the left, and there, in the middle, was Draco Malfoy. He turned to look at her and she avoided his gaze, embarrassed. She should have known she'd see him here; he was a single man now, after all. And what single man _wouldn't_ want to ogle Candy? She was tall to Hannah's short, big breasted to Hannah's small ones, a powerful force to be reckoned with by all accounts. The only thing they had in common was their long blonde hair, and Hannah's was more of a dirty shade to Candy's golden locks.

“What can I get you?” she said with a sigh as the men made their way over to the bar.

“Three Firewhiskey's,” Draco said confidently. He tried to catch her eye, but Hannah wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing she was hurt. She inwardly cursed Tom for getting a stripper to pull in the punters.

“A smile wouldn't go amiss, honey,” Blaise said loudly. She looked directly at him then and smiled as sweetly as she could manage; she didn't want any trouble from this lot, whether Harry Potter was in the corner to save her or not. “That's better. You could be pretty if you tried.”

“Oi!” Ernie growled, turning to face them. Hannah placed her hand on his arm.

“Leave it, yeah?” She poured their drinks and handed them over. “The show's about to start,” she said to the Slytherin's, “go and take a seat.”

They did as she said, and only when she was sure Draco wasn't looking at her did she chance a look at him. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat, his gaze drawn to Candy's superior body.

*

The morning after Candy's performance, there was another loud bang on the door as Hannah was preparing to open up. She rolled her eyes and opened the door, surprised to see Draco Malfoy there again. He didn't look drunk this time, and thinking about it, he'd only had two drinks last night while his friends got completely smashed.

“Morning,” Draco said, flashing a smile at her.

“What do you want, Malfoy?”

Draco raised an eyebrow. “Charming.” He smirked and then looked away. “This is about last night, isn't it?”

“No,” Hannah said a bit too soon. “We're both single. You can do as you please.”

“I didn't... I wasn't... Blaise wanted to watch the show... and I wanted to see you.”

Hannah did a double take. “Me? But you were ogling Candy all night.”

“Uh-uh.” Draco shook his head. “My main focus was on you, only I couldn't catch your eye. You seemed distracted with your friend Ernie. He is just a friend, isn't he?”

Hannah smiled; was Draco Malfoy displaying a little touch of jealousy? She decided to put him out of his misery. “Yes, he's just a friend. Why do you care?”

“Well, I said I had my eye on someone.” Draco shrugged and looked away; Hannah's heart practically stopped as she awaited to hear what he was going to say next. He could either name her, or another witch. “It's you.”

Hannah blushed, but she didn't want to seem too eager. “Really? That's interesting.”

“Yeah?” Draco laughed. “You're not into me to? No, well nevermind. I shouldn't have said anything.”

“Hold on.” Perhaps Hannah had been a little too not-interested. “I like you too.”

“Well of course you do,” said Draco, and it seemed he was being serious for a moment, until he smiled and Hannah joined him. “How about we go out next week? Say, somewhere in the Muggle world?”

“The Muggle world?” Hannah frowned. “That doesn''t seem like your sort of thing.”

“It's nothing to do with you,” Draco started. “But I can't risk my friends seeing us together. And I'm sure Macmillan and Potter wouldn't be too pleased to see you with me either.”

“I hadn't given it any thought.”

“I have. I've wanted to ask you out for a while, but, like I say, I have very demanding and judgy friends. I wasn't sure it could work. But I think it could, if we kept it from everyone. For a while, anyway.”

Hannah was relieved to hear that last line; she wasn't sure they'd be able to last the distance if nobody could ever know about them. She couldn't help her happiness though; she'd long thought Draco handsome, and she'd really got to know him while working at the Leaky Cauldron. She liked what she saw, and she wasn't too put off by having to keep their relationship a secret; she understood. Knowing Draco's friends, especially Blaise Zabini, it was probably a good thing they wouldn't know.

“Saturday, here at 7?”

Hannah nodded. “Saturday here at 7.” It was the start of a brand new journey for Hannah, and it was one she was very excited about, in spite of having to keep it a secret.


End file.
